EDO, if the agents aren't happy they can always say no to my proposal of no renewal fee, so far this has never happened. All contracts are negotiable. It's the underhand tactics of agents in not drawing attention to these extras that p's the public off, hence Keef's original post. It's hard to negotiate if it's not clear what's on the table. One agent I thought about using made no mention of the renewal fee until I prompted him, and when I asked him where it was written into the contract, I was told I had to check out a referenced website link for general terms and conditions. Another trick of agents is to include a clause that if the landlord was to subsequently sell the property to the tenants at any time in the future, the landlord would be liable to pay the estate agent a full sales commission e.g 2% of selling price... EDOldie Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Agents should (and I wish by law) charge the very > minimum to the tenants. Unfortunately many agents > see the tenant as another income generator. The > respectable ones don't and only charge what it > costs to make credit checks etc. Landlords often > list property with more than one agent for letting > and tenants should ask what the charges are likely > to be before they start looking. Shop around, this > exploitation will stop if people do. > > I have to take issue with Red Devil. If an agent > introduces you to a stream of income why should > their fee stop after one year? Makes no sense to > me although it is the subject of litigation at the > moment, (can I use the F word?) Foxtons are > fighting a case at the moment I think and won the > last argument but i think the case continues. > maybe someone out there knows more than I do > (unlikely) about this.